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Having a difficult time thinking of a gift for your groom? Something personal, something different? What about a book of boudoir photos? The art of boudoir photography has been around for a long time. But it's back in style in a big way.

While we were at the bridal bazaar, we saw some examples of beautiful photos. At Woman Captured, the entire crew is female. You can feel comfortable getting whatever type of photos you think your groom will enjoy. The photos range from tasteful and playful to downright risqué and sexy.

Want to keep it a surprise? They can help you with that, too!

Check for a photographer in your area if you'd like to try some boudoir photos. And check back soon for an interview with a boudoir photographer to find out more about the process!
You've made the decision to get married away from home, and you've decided what precise location you want to travel to, but within that beautiful backdrop, where will you tie the knot? Choosing a venue when you're hundreds (or thousands!) of miles away can add a little extra stress to your already-full plate, but it doesn't have to provide any more headaches than picking a venue at home.

One thing to know -- and communicate -- is what exactly you want from your destination wedding. If you want to tie the knot in Paris, do you see yourself saying "I do" at a private chateau or at the Four Seasons Paris? When you first start Googling, it can certainly become overwhelming if you haven't narrowed down your desires beforehand. If you see yourself getting crazy in Las Vegas, is it with Elvis presiding or in the Venus Garden at Caesar's Palace.

Sit down with your partner and decide why you chose your destination to begin with -- the stunning mountains, the thrilling nightlife or the twinkling lights of a busy cityscape. When you both get the picture in your mind's eye out in the open, it'll be much easier (and less stressful!) to pick the perfect venue that matches what you've been envisioning.

A beautiful destination wedding is in the cards for you, and, the really good news? It doesn't have to be more work and stress than a wedding in your own backyard.

Speaking of stress: next week, we talk budgets!


A "wishing tree" is a traditional part of Dutch weddings, and an interesting alternative to the guest book. A beautifully shaped bare branch (or two) is placed in a pot and arranged on a table beside the bride and groom's table. The branch can be bursting into bud for a spring wedding, or a dried and painted branch. You can decorate the branch with ribbons or beads, whatever looks beautiful to you.

Guests are given a paper leaf or piece of decorative card attached to a ribbon when they arrive. During the reception, they write their best wishes to the bride and groom. The couple gets to read them before hanging them on the branch. After the wedding, the couple can use the branch as a centerpiece or decorative item in their own home. Eventually, couple can take the leaves/cards off the tree and make a collage of them or put them in a scrapbook. Whatever you do with it, you'll have a tree-full of warm wishes to savor for years to come.
Let's face it - the unity candle can be a beautiful part of your ceremony. But sometimes, it can feel outdated. Or maybe even slightly dangerous, what with the open flame and all. And it's a one-trick pony. If you have children and want to involve them, you probably won't hand them a candle. Not to mention it's difficult for two people to light a candle, much less more.

A unity sand ceremony may be just the thing for you. Here's how it works. You have two smaller vases and one larger vase. The two smaller ones are filled with colored sand - one color for the bride and one for the groom. If you have kids, add a small vase with another color for them, too.

The groom pours some of his sand into the vase. Then the bride pours some of hers. The bride and groom then pour the rest of the sand in together, creating a sand pattern in the central vase. You can create many alternatives to this. Let your officiant pour in some sand of another color, forming the base, and then the bride and groom can follow. Children can pour in some sand after or with the bride and groom.

And when you're done, the sand pattern is a perfect keepsake of your day. Just don't forget to seal it up so it doesn't get ruined if it gets knocked over.



Like the look of scrapbooks, but just haven't felt like the creative type ever since you failed "Scissors" in kindergarten? You can spend hours looking through your friends' precious books, but you hate the mess? Hankering for a wedding scrapbook, but find the whole creation process just too darn fiddly? The word "embellishment" make you break out in hives?

If any of those describe you, you'll love Scrapblog, a website which allows you to create a scrapbook virtually. No paper, no glue, no teeny little bits and pieces. Instead, you can choose from dozens of pre-made templates, or create your own pages from scratch. Scrapblog provides hundreds of design possibilities, all as simple as point-and-click.

You don't have to stop with pictures, either: videos, audio, and text can all be combined on your Scrapblog page, capturing not just the sights, but the sounds of your day, and your thoughts about it all. Check out the link below: maybe you can have that wedding scrapbook, after all!



Can't you just feel the tenderness in this shot? Doesn't it make you sigh, or even tear up a bit?

Traditional wedding photography used to mean posed portraits, posed couple shots, posed group shots, everyone smiling into the lens. There is still a place for such pictures. It's nice to see everyone all arrayed, it will be good as the years go by to be able to find your best friend from college, your favorite aunt, your old workmate.

But it's also good to capture other elements of the day. This one capture an emotion, and captures it beautifully. Tenderness, love, sincerity, union: all these and more are encompassed in this quiet pose. This is not just a picture of a couple, it's a picture of a relationship. It's also nice to see a photograph that features the groom so thoroughly.

Thank you to Red Leaf Studios for sharing this breath-taking picture.


If you'd like your own picture featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr Pool. We'll highlight one image every Monday. We're looking for brides and grooms and attendants and guests and cakes and shoes and anything else that was fabulous about your wedding day. Be sure to read the intro on the main Flickr page for more information, and please upload only photos for which you own the copyright.
If you are planning your wedding without the restraint of a budget, the sky really is the limit when it comes to what gifts to buy for your bridesmaids. A few things to choose from when it comes to spoiling your favorite women include the dress they will wear in your ceremony, travel accommodations to the wedding (flight, hotel) or a day at a local spa (pedicure, manicure, facial -- the works!).

But if you're looking to splurge on a thank-you gift that not only shows your gratitude but is also original -- something she is sure to get use of and be stunned by, check out the gallery for a handful of lavish gift ideas your bridal party won't soon forget.

If you're going to make sure the flowers, cake and decorations are all the cream of the crop, thank your bridesmaids with the best of the best, as well.


Stop thinking of champagne flutes as just one more thing you need for your wedding. While you certainly can go out and spend a pretty penny on them, you can also find something completely appropriate well within your budget. And, whether you decide to toast with Waterford or Wal-mart brand, rest assured that your champagne flutes can be another example of your personal style.

Think about it -- why buy boring glasses that will just get shoved to the back of your cupboard? Pick something you love, something you will want to use long after the wedding -- believe us, if you have gorgeous glasses and a bottle of champagne around, you'll find a reason to celebrate!

Not sure what we mean by "fun" glasses? Look for unique colors and designs, maybe hand-blown or etched. When you see it, you'll know. To get some ideas, check out the gallery!


This made us grin. Unless your ceremony will involve kneeling, nobody will see it, so it's a completely frivolous bit of bling -- but isn't it fun? It would be like the lingerie: you're the only one who knows it's there, but it makes you feel just that little bit more into the occasion.

It's a fun way to incorporate the monogram idea, a simple project for an eager do-it-yourself-er, and that extra touch of bling. Fun, frivolous, and festive! Thanks to Sarah Gatten, aka Little Miss Romp, for sharing this picture with us!

A sweet idea for decorating your reception venue are these great hanging hearts from What I'd Love. The hearts are handmade and are decorated with an impressed lace design then embellished with vintage mother of pearl buttons, glass chandelier drops, freshwater pearls and silver beads. Each heart is unique and they are a lovely way to decorate the entrance to your reception, or to hang near the cake table or any other focal point. (Maybe your guest book table, or table plan area as well.)

You can choose from a set of three small decorations (stars and hearts) or a single large heart or a set of four tiny hearts. Priced from £6.00 (about $12.00) they're great value and a bunch of them hung together would create a fabulously romantic look.

Ask someone to take them down after the wedding and to keep them for you until after your honeymoon, and you'll have something special to hang up at home that will always be a wonderful reminder of your wedding day.
If you're tying the knot in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you'll need a special place to host friends and family for your rehearsal dinner. Try Truluck's -- with three D/FW locations -- for a fancy seafood or steak dinner the night before your big day.

Truluck's -- named "Best Dallas Restaurant" by D Magazine -- offers a variety of options for your private party: from a smaller room to the entire restaurant. Truluck's also customizes a menu for your special night, with a few different dinner options (varying in prices, too) with your choice of appetizers, soups and salads, entrees, sides and, most important, desserts.

Some of the most raved-about dishes include Alaskan crab legs, prime New York strip, sesame tuna or the hot-and-crunchy trout. And, for dessert, have a bite of or two of the famous carrot cake or chocolate malt cake.

To relax and enjoy all of your loved ones who are in town for your beautiful wedding, choose Truluck's for your rehearsal dinner.
If you are planning a "Roaring 20s" wedding, your reception is likely to be one funky (and fun!) party with groovy jazz playing and bridesmaids donning flashy, flapper-like outfits. In order to stay true to the heart of the era when Art Deco peaked and culture came roaring back to America you will want to find an invitation to send that looks and feels authentic.

First, visit Olivia Stationery, an online store out of the United Kingdom that offers a few original designs that will perfectly capture the feel of your "Roaring 20s" wedding. Or try Decodent Dezigns, a site specializing in Art Deco wedding invitations and save-the-date cards in a variety of styles and colors.

In addition to those two must-visit sites, there are a few more invitations sprinkled around the Internet that you'll definitely want to glance at if you're planning a "Roaring 20s" wedding. Check out the gallery to get a sneak preview of them.

Whether you are traveling to Paris for your nuptials or to Fiji for your honeymoon -- heck, even just a short trip to Toronto -- you will need a passport. Since the entire process of getting your passport -- standing in line in the post office, forking over a check for that much money, waiting a ridiculous amount of time to receive the thing -- you deserve to enjoy looking at it for the next ten-odd years.

So, instead of keeping the default navy-blue passport carrier that your passport came with, try something a little snazzier. At Superior Luggage you can pick out a Jack Georges leather carrier in a handful of colors (orange [shown], black, burgundy, cherry, dark brown, lime, light blue, pink, red and yellow) for $39.

Or, pick up a few for your bridesmaids if your destination wedding happens to be in Mexico, Jamaica or anywhere else abroad. After buying one for yourself, of course.)
A whimsical way to add personality to your wedding bouquet, and very simple to do. Any bouquet with ribbons as accents can be used -- and any bouquet can have ribbons, if you request it! You can get your florist to do this, or you can add the charms after it's been made and delivered.

We've talked about wedding charms before. They are usually put in the cake, with ribbons attached with which to pull them out before eating! Instead of putting them in a cake, you can attach them to your bouquet. But why limit yourself to traditional wedding charms, when there are so many out there?

Choose charms that have special meaning to the two of you: the hobby you share, the place he proposed, the city each of you was born -- all these, and many others, can be represented by a charm. Attach them to the ribbons of your bouquet for extra wedding memories, that you can keep long after the bouquet is gone.

If you're planning a twenties-themed wedding, one wonderful way to get your guests into the mood is to include a list of common slang terms with the invitations. Or, you can simply direct guests to this site where they'll find a plethora of the real McCoy.

Encourage your guests to learn a few catch phrases to sling around during the reception. Not only will it bring your roaring twenties theme to life, it will make the event that much more memorable for your guests ... and for you. Just imagine the video sound bites!

So, don't razz the idea – go for it and put on the Ritz!

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